I deliberately chose a unit without an outdoor kitchen. When I cook outside, I use a folding table, my Coleman or MSR stove, and a Dutch Oven or two. I want to be able to place my kitchen wherever I want it which is not necessarily where the trailer is parked. I have a shelter with mosquito proof sides if the bugs are out, something that you can't get with one attached to the trailer.

The DW and I are looking for a 5er to full time in and she would love an outdoor kitchen, but we haven't seen one with the floor plan we want. We are strongly pulled to the GD 375res, of course that model doesn't have one. The outdoor kitchen we did looked at came with a sink, stove, refig and a few cabinets and I thought I saw an outside TV as well. Not even interested in an outdoor TV, no time to watch TV with all the beautiful things and people out there. If we don't get an outdoor kitchen we are set up to cook and prepare meal outside anyways, but sure be convenient if we did have one.

We always liked to "grill out" but never felt the need for an entire "kitchen" outside. If we are preparing other foods besides what is on the grill, the cook wants all the galley tools and supplies available. That said, a water faucet and a beverage fridge near the patio can be very handy!

When we were still shopping around and considering options, I had an outdoor kitchen on my want list. Not a must have for me, but I thought it would be nice....We still had our popup, and camped in a site that was so out of level the rear of the little short pup was almost unreachable.... It dawned on my that had we been in long TT with an outdoor kitchen I would have needed a ladder to get to it.soit would only really be interesting when on perfectly level sites.

I ended up scratching it off my want list, and have not regretted it.

I can imagine some folks loving them, but for me I'd rather have more flexibility with a portable grille and or stove.

We spend a lot of time outdoors while camping, but never saw the need for a second kitchen. They take up an incredible amount of space that could otherwise be used for storage. Our motorhome came with a gas grill that attaches to the side of the camper - it went to the dump with the box unopened. We use a Weber Q on a folding table that allows us a lot of flexibility in setting up.

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I never thought I would use one, until I got a TT with one and use it to watch TV. I removed the upper cabinet and hung a 36 inch tv and it works great. Never used the sink, and the fridge is nothing but a pop holder. The area stores beach stuff when the door is closed. Beyond that I have a friend who uses the mess out of his, they never eat inside. Unlike my wife and kids.

Its your call, but remember you may buy things on your camper now which make it an easy sale for down the road.

All the time. In 2 years we have only turned an inside stove burner on once. I do all the cooking and prefer to be outside while camping.

We have a basic OK...small fridge (for drinks), 2 burner stove, and sink. I have a standalone gas BBQ as well. The kitchen has storage for all the cooking utensils, oils, spices, etc. so I just need to access the inside for food and pots/pans. I made the latter easier to get at by modifying my TT...it has a storage area in the island accessible from outside (thru the main door) so I reversed the door on the cabinet and now can open it while standing outside the TT and get to the rest of the cookware when I need it.

An outdoor kitchen was high on DW list of must haves. In 4 years I think we cooked inside twice as it was too miserable outside or too cold I can't remember. DW just doesn't like the smell of bacon lingering for hours, the grease that attaches to the walls and ceiling over time, the moisture from boiling water for pasta or anything else, the heat built up from the propane and lastly the cleanup inside. I do all of the cooking and prefer to be outside. The sink outside is used to rinse the dirty dishes if any as we use paper, and the small fridge keeps pop, and condiments, cheese for burgers etc. so as not to run back and forth into TT. I also have a 3 burner portable stove from Costco with 2 heavy cast iron griddles for boiling water, breakfast items and everything else.

We have a fold down stove and prep top. When we first got it I noticed a soft spot inside. The stove when folded down broke the seal and it leaked at the top. I repaired the floor and resealed. When I use the stove I always let it down easy and don't let it flop. Always check it once or twice a year to make sure it is sealed.

We have an outdoor "kitchenette" as I like to call it - 2 burner stove, no cabinets (only a shelf), very small fridge, and a sink with hot & cold water but no drain (i.e. the "sink" is useless..I've never used it). It was in the floor plan we loved and I do use it a bit but we would have bought the same camper without the kitchen.

We still had our popup, and camped in a site that was so out of level the rear of the little short pup was almost unreachable....It dawned on my that had we been in long TT with an outdoor kitchen I would have needed a ladder to get to it.

Yes, we use ours every time we camp. It was one of the deciding factors in our purchase. The outside refrigerator provides valuable extra space that the inside refrigerator can't. It is mainly for beer, water, pop, and condiments but can fit food for the grill (ours is larger than the little cube style fridges). The outside sink is also very handy when you need to wash up after grilling or anything else. We also have a nice size storage cabinet that we keep all sorts of "outside" things in, and it also has a portable Coleman grill. All of these things keep us from going in and out of the camper whenever we want something to drink or want to prepare a meal.

Could we live without it? Yes. It happens to work very well in our current floor plan (24' couples camper with rear bathroom and dinette slide), but if we were to upgrade to a larger floor plan, maybe a 5er, I could do without. But for now, it works very well for us.

LOL - yup, that's me. This was about a year ago out in the NY Finger Lakes. The site was actually very level but only from the hitch to the rear axle and then it dropped right off. It was a terribly rainy weekend so I couldn't have really used the stove anyway but took the pic to send to my buddies. Did all the cooking on the Coleman NXT200 under the awning. At least the outdoor fridge still worked!

BobX2I agree with Danny Pyle on this one. It is nice to have a sink outside and also a fridge to store condiments and refreshments. I hardly ever use outside stove. As far as valuable storage space inside I am not sure what you mean. My outside kitchen does not take up any indoor space as it is located under the kitchen appliances, below the stove/oven. The second portion of my outside kitchen takes up about 8" behind my inside entertainment center and folds down to a working table top, a TV which can be faced outside, and some storage pockets for paper products, cooking utensils, spices etc.So unless you have never had one you would not miss it but for those of us that do and use it frequently we love it

The floor plan we wanted came with an outdoor kitchen. I removed the fridge because it was 120 volt only and we boon dock on 12 volt. Then I decided to go all the way and removed the entire slide out sink and drawer paraphernalia. We now have a large storage compartment which holds all our outdoor cooking gear

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So either way Sprucegum you came out OK with options for that outside kitchen and without it would be lugging things in and out of TT. That is the one thing lacking outside storage for cooking gear. I have a large rubber tub that I store under the TT but that is a bear lugging around as I use mostly cast iron, pans, griddles etc.You are right about the fridge being 110 as it can't be used during travel or boondocking but I would miss the outside sink as I am always washing my hands while cooking and handling various meats. The stove I could do without.

I'll bet most of you who rave about the oudoor kitchen don't full time. We cook in the kitchen and usually eat inside as well. Different strokes.

Ernie

You are absolutely correct in that assumption Ernie. I camp maybe 4-5 full weeks usually 1 at a time and possibly 10 additional weekends throughout the year. I figure I cook inside and eat inside in the sticks and bricks enough and look forward to spending as much time outside as possible. With retirement coming up in a few years I may my change my mind when that happens.

We have made the transition from weekend and vacation folks to retirees in the last two years. The transition was not what we expected. We now travel 2/3 of the time, with many trips being 4-5 weeks long. When we were working, we "camped" even with the trailer. By the use of that term I mean we mostly cooked and ate outside, sat outside around a fire most nights, etc. When we took our first kind-of-a-snowbird trip we started out using the fire pit and sitting outside a lot. Turns out we were the only ones doing it! January and February in southern Utah and Arizona belongs to long termers who don't do much of that. We now say we mostly just live in our trailer. Sometimes we still "camp", mostly when we are with others who aren't retired yet, but mostly we just live. That means cooking and eating inside most of the time, watching television, etc. pretty much like in the sticks and bricks, but in lovely, moveable locations with lots to do during the day. I think it is just a normal transition according to others I have talked to.